The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-05-06
Bno-a-Brao BURGLARS.
CURIo COLLECTORS WHO STEAL RARE
WORKS or ART.

valuable piece of porcelain or a curio
or rare coin when IL is put so con-
yeniently before them as the things are
in this store. We display everything
very freely, but there is always one of
the employees idling around in an un-
concerned sort of way who looks out
for our interests"
care your customers ever tempted
to pocket your wares y he was asked.
"Well, now and then we have case
of that kind, but of course nothing
can be done, and unless the article has
some special artistic value we say moth
ing about it, for we should lose good
deal of custom if we did not overlook
the eccentricities of the kleptomaniacs.
The collectors are the worse kind we
have to deal with. You see that
old man over there pointing in the
direction of very respectable old gen
tleman with white hair and queer
dried up face and clothed in long
and seedy ulster. He was shufiling
along from one shelf to another, ex-
amining everything furtively with his
sharp, little, ferret like eyes.
"That man. said the dealer, "has
one of the finest porcelain collections
in this city. He used to be rich, but
now guess he has to hustle to get his
three meals day properly. When he
was we'll off / thought nothing Of sell.
ing him 1000 worth of goods every
month, but he hasn't spent cent here
in years, and l have to watch the old
chap half the time to see that he doesn't
walk off with my best things, for there
isn't better Judge of the value of a
work of art than he in America
At the Astor and Mercantile libraries
numerous tricks and devices are
used by unscrupulous collectors of
prints to get possession of some rare
picture or edition. They either cut the
desired illustration out of the book,
thus running it forever, or take the
work away with :hem when they go,
substituting another volume already
prepared in its place. Since print COL
Letting has come to be so popular some
elegant works belonging to the New
York libraries have been ruthlessly de-
stroyed and very often stolen. The
only way to put a stop to these depre-
dations is to keep constant watch,
and even then so tricky are the thieves
and so fertile of device that they carry
on their practices beneath the very eyes
of the librarians.
1t was only few weeks ago that
magnificent quarto was destroyed in
library by one of these vandals, armed
with sharp knife and a strong artistic
desire to capture rare print at the
! expense of his principles of honor.
Artistic thieves are sometimes of very
respectable families. which the follow
ing incident, wei. Unknown to most New
York artists and Bohemians, will illus
crate:
A gentleman living in West Forty
second street owned among other paint
ings real Rembrandt which he had
purchased in Europe at a good round
.. price, and which was very fair speci-
men of that artists work. The other
pictures were all light works by Amer
lean painters, but this picture, on ac-
count of its value, occupied room by
itself, and its owner was very proud of
his possession. When hard times
struck that family and the collector
was compelled to hand every thing over
to the auctloneer it was then discovered
that the Rembrandt, that much treas
ured painting to which all Murray Hill
8 had bowed in reverence, was nothing
but clever forgery.
The gentleman who had owned it sc
many years, and who considered him
self no mean Judge of art, was dumb.
founded and would not believe it. An
investigation proved that the canvas
on which the picture was painted had
= the stamp of New York firm on it
and that drying varnish had beer
mixed with the paint that was invented
: only twenty years ago. The fact tina
s the picture was bogus was defnitel,
s settled by the arrival in town of ;
# wealthy Brazilian who said he bad pun
e chased in Europe the original of the
l. painting.a and that all the critics in Lon
It don aud Paris had combined in saying
y that he had a genuine Rembrandt
k Detectives were finally set to worl
e to ferret out the mystery and soon mad
5, everything clear. The son of tn
e American collector, who was wilC
|, and dissipated young man, had takel
!, an artist friend into his confidence an,
u together they plotted to exchange tn
/; genuine picture for copy. The frien
rs worked on the copy at night and 500
It produced a fair imitation, while the 81
ID with the real picture went to Europ
and there succeeded in selling it to tn
e. Brazilian.
lie In Philadelphia another great pit
g ture was spirited away for long Will
,e by much the same means and not r,
N turned until the wheels of the la
lie were set in motion. Every now an
s. then we hear through the press of tn
Or robbery of an art gallery, but hundred
70 of such thefts are committed which ii
lie public at large never hear of. Artist
Of who 90 away for the Summer G
" sketching tours often return to fin
q. their studios ransacked and some {
is their best paintings cut from tf
IT. frames.
ne The man who owns fine collectic
IL of bric-a-brac or paintings or curl,
" has more need to look after the visito
ht and admirers of his treasures tha
is among the servants of his hous
a Many an amateur who is badly bite
re with the craze of collecting curiol
)" works will buy what he wants as lor
h- as he can, and then when the none
vn gives out he will steal at the fir
ng chance the coveted article which
OF admires and must own. The averal
ly thief has royal scorn for artist
be work, except when he considers it W
% bring good price. He would just
IN leave steal something less artistic al
g; more salable, for painting which
os- we'll known is hard TO dispose of at
fence.
An old Bohemian who used to s.
art materials to the various studios W
-, discovered to be most notorious sne